Off-grid solar packages with batteries: what's actually in the box

RENOZ supplies the 48V modular archetype from Perth: LV-5KWH100AH modules with 5.12 kWh nominal and 4.61 kWh usable each (datasheet, 2025), paired with a separately chosen inverter-charger. We declare that interest and hold every archetype to the same test: published figures, live lists, installer-owned commissioning.

Nothing here is a price guide. Package prices move with panels, freight and labour; the thing that survives comparison is configuration. Verify every model on the live CEC list before money changes hands, whoever supplies it.

A package bundles seven things: the solar array, the inverter, the battery bank, the balance of system, monitoring, and the labour to install and commission. **Balance of system (BOS)** is everything between the big three: mounting, DC and AC cabling, fuses and breakers, surge protection, labels and enclosures. BOS is where cheap packages fail first, because it is the easiest line to thin out without changing the headline number.

**Usable capacity** is what the battery management system lets you draw before the battery stops, and it is the only figure that sizes autonomy. For example, a module rated 5.12 kWh nominal delivers 4.61 kWh usable at its recommended depth (LV-5KWH100AH datasheet, 2025), so a 10-module tower is about 46 kWh usable rather than 51.2, plain arithmetic on the published figures. If a quote says 10 kWh battery, ask nominal or usable, and ask for the datasheet.

The market sorts into four package shapes, and the shape is the decision. A grid-hybrid kit is engineered for a connected home with backup as an occasional event. A 48V modular package pairs rack modules with a grid-forming inverter-charger built to be the grid. An integrated all-in-one seals battery and conversion into one enclosure. A component-specified system engineers every line item against a load list. The full classification, with the model-level shortlist, lives in the flagship off-grid guide.

The practical difference is the overload curve. A Selectronic SP PRO SPMC482-AU publishes 7.5 kW continuous and 18 kW for 30 seconds (SP PRO Series 2i datasheet, 2026). A Fronius GEN24 in Full Backup publishes 12.4 kVA for 5 seconds and terminates backup operation if the overload persists (Fronius backup power solution sheet, 2025). Grid-hybrid packs sit at about 1.2 to 1.4 times rated output for 5 to 10 seconds (manufacturer backup datasheets, 2026). A direct-on-line pump drawing several times its nameplate at start only forgives the first curve. Why that gap decides pumps and compressors is covered in the 48V versus high-voltage guide.

Panel-heavy, battery-light. Arrays look impressive and cost little per watt, so packaged quotes pad the array and thin the bank. Compare usable kWh against your load list, not panel count.

Overload never stated. If the quote carries no 30-second overload figure for the inverter, ask for it with the datasheet attached. For instance, the gap between 1.3 times for 10 seconds and 2.4 times for 30 seconds (SP PRO Series 2i datasheet, 2026) is exactly the gap between a stalled pump and a started one.

Nominal dressed as usable. Pylontech publishes 4.8 kWh nominal and 4.56 kWh usable per US5000 module (manufacturer page, 2026); RENOZ publishes 5.12 and 4.61 (datasheet, 2025). Both are honest because both say usable. A quote that says 5 kWh and stops is hiding the number you need.

Single-line pricing. One number with no current limits, no BOS detail and no commissioning scope means you are buying a price, not a system. Demand the line items; a genuine supplier produces them the same day.

Generator port missing. If the site will ever carry a genset, the inverter needs an AC input for it and the control to start and stop it. Retrofitting is possible; specifying it up front is cheaper.

Bring both quotes down to three numbers: dollars per usable kWh, surge headroom in kilowatts at 30 seconds, and autonomy days at your winter load. Dollars per usable kWh is quoted price divided by usable kWh: an 18 kWh usable bank quoted at $30,000 is about $1,667 per usable kWh, and the same arithmetic on the second quote usually reveals the better buy. The full sizing method, autonomy targets included, lives in the battery sizing guide.

Consider what the headline number hides: a larger nominal bank inside a closed ecosystem can cost more per usable kWh over five years than a smaller modular one that grows with the load, because expansion reuses the inverter you already paid for.

The federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program (CHBP) is available to off-grid systems: there is no grid-connection condition and no virtual power plant condition (DCCEEW program page(opens in a new tab). The WA Residential Battery Scheme (WARBS) is grid-connected and VPP-enrolment based, so most genuinely off-grid properties chase CHBP only. We publish no rates or caps; they change and are model-specific.

Eligibility runs through the Clean Energy Council approved list, because schemes require batteries from the list, and the list is dynamic: in January 2026 the expiry dates for more than 700 products were brought forward(opens in a new tab) in the transition to SA TS 5398. No standing approval claims appear on this page for any model, RENOZ included: check the exact model numbers on your quote against the live CEC list(opens in a new tab). The WA rebates checklist keeps the current checks in one place.

Stand-alone systems are designed under AS/NZS 4509.1, battery installs carry the electrical-safety obligations of AS/NZS 5139 (Standards Australia, 2019), and grid-interfacing inverters are certified to AS/NZS 4777.1. Regulators enforce these: Energy Safe Victoria(opens in a new tab), for example, requires battery systems installed and inspected by appropriately licensed workers.

The roles are fixed: the OEM supplies hardware, documentation and support; the accredited installer owns site-specific design, protection, approvals and commissioning. What a Perth-stocked package changes is logistics: spares and engineering a phone call away rather than a container away. Cost ranges by system size live in the off-grid cost guide, so we will not repeat them here.

The 30-second overload figure for the inverter, in kilowatts or multiples of rating, with the datasheet attached.

Battery usable kWh per module and per bank, at the stated depth of discharge, from the manufacturer's datasheet rather than the bundle flyer.

Battery current limits and how they meet the inverter's charge and discharge stages; a 100 A charge stage at 48 V is about 4.8 kW, plain arithmetic from the published limits (datasheet, 2025).

Generator provision: the AC input rating, two-wire start support, and who programs the start-stop logic. How to size the hybrid end-to-end is in the generator hybrid guide.

Expansion: what adding 10 kWh costs later, and what the inverter allows before it runs out of channels.

CEC listing status for the exact model numbers on the quote, checked against the live list, plus who signs the commissioning paperwork against AS/NZS 4509.1.